Methods of human prostate cancer diagnosis

Abstract

Disclosed are diagnostic techniques for the detection of human prostate cancer. Genetic probes and methods useful in monitoring the progression and diagnosis of prostate cancer are described. The invention relates particularly to hybridization methods for evaluating the prevalence of gene amplification in a limited regions of human chromosome 8q24.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of diagnosing prostate cancer progression, comprising: determining the presence of an amplified 8q24.1-24.2 chromosome band segment from a human prostate tumor sample wherein said amplified 8q24.1-24.2 chromosome band segment is indicative of prostate cancer progression.   
     
     
       2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises hybridization of the 8q24.1-24.2 segment with a probe. 
     
     
       3. The method of claim 2, wherein said probe is an oligonucleotide mixture of DNA segments that is complementary to gene segment 8q24.1-24.2. 
     
     
       4. The method of claim 2, wherein said probe is a labeled probe. 
     
     
       5. A method of detecting recurrent prostate cancer comprising obtaining a prostate tumor DNA sample from a patient suspected of having recurrent prostate cancer and determining DNA sequence copy number changes in chromosome segment 8q wherein a gain in copy number relative to copy number of normal 8q DNA is indicative of prostate cancer recurrence. 
     
     
       6. The method of claim 5, wherein the prostate tumor sample DNA sample is obtained by chromosome microdissection. 
     
     
       7. The method of claim 5, wherein chromosome segment 8q is further defined as 8q24. 
     
     
       8. The method of claim 5, wherein chromosome segment 8q is further defined as 8q24.1-24.2. 
     
     
       9. The method of claim 6, wherein determining DNA sequence copy number changes is accomplished using a probe. 
     
     
       10. The method of claim 9, wherein said probe is a labeled probe hybridized to chromosome 8 DNA. 
     
     
       11. The method of claim 10, wherein said probe is fluorescently-labeled. 
     
     
       12. The method of claim 11, wherein the intensity of said labeled probe is determined using a digital image analysis system. 
     
     
       13. The method of claim 1, wherein said chromosome band segment is obtained by chromosome microdissection. 
     
     
       14. The method of claim 2, wherein said probe is identified as a DNA segment complementary to gene segment 8q24.1-24.2. 
     
     
       15. The method of claim 2, wherein said probe is a degenerate probe. 
     
     
       16. The method of claim 4, wherein said labeled probe is a fluorescently-labeled probe. 
     
     
       17. The method of claim 4, wherein said labeled probe is a radioactively-labeled probe. 
     
     
       18. The method of claim 9, wherein said probe is a degenerate probe. 
     
     
       19. The method of claim 9, wherein said probe is an oligonucleotide mixture of DNA segments that is complementary to gene segment 8q24.1-24.2. 
     
     
       20. The method of claim 10, wherein said labeled probe is a radioactively-labeled probe. 
     
     
       21. The method of claim 10, wherein chromosome 8 DNA is further identified as chromosome 8q DNA. 
     
     
       22. The method of claim 16, wherein said probe is detected using a digital image analysis system. 
     
     
       23. The method of claim 21, wherein chromosome 8q DNA is further identified as chromosome 8q24 DNA. 
     
     
       24. The method of claim 22, wherein chromosome 8q24 DNA is further identified as chromosome 8q24.1-24.2 DNA.